1. Field of the Invention
The embodiments of the invention are directed to improvements in the design and operational efficiency of multi-rotor unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) specifically through the application of energy harvesting and power management strategies.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless radio-controlled (R/C) model helicopters are well-known precursors to today's more sophisticated multi-rotor aircraft such as the Mikrokopter from Mikrokopter.de, or the ArduCopter 3DR-B from Udrones.com. Today's multi-rotor unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can be manually operated by the user or flown autonomously (i.e., completely preprogrammed flight) or semi-autonomously, and can be purchased off-the-shelf, with 4, 6 or 8 rotors, GPS based guidance, navigation and control (GNC) systems, an autopilot, communications software, live video links, and joystick or PC-remote control. An example of such a multi-rotor autonomous helicopter is described in US 2012/0083945A1 (Oakley et al.). In effect the Mikrokopter and its generation are sophisticated robots that may be used by emergency responders (e.g., fire, search and rescue), law enforcement, border monitoring for illegal drug trafficking interdiction, farmers and ranchers, remote security duty, pipeline inspection and the list of applications continues. However, all known versions share an Achilles' heel: limited flight time due to finite battery performance. All of the known battery-powered systems in use today are constrained to use whatever battery charge was accumulated on the ground prior to launch because they are all strictly battery-powered. Therefore, methods of lengthening flight time by minimizing power usage or generating energy during flight operations are desirable goals.